E3 2011: Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team hands-on preview

Or as we like to call it – Warhammer 40K: Gauntlet Legends Edition

Announced on June 2nd, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is a downloadable spin-off game from the successful 40k series. Getting a bit of time in with the game at its E3 debut, we were pleasantly surprised with what turned out to be a decent twin-stick shooter. While a few points in the demo felt a little undercooked (and for the record, the game’s not done, so no judgment yet), the sheer amount of potential and arcade-y nostalgia presented by the game outweighed any negative instances we encountered during our experience.

Kill Team tasks players with taking down an ork (yes, in Warhammer, “ork” has a k) Kroozer from the inside. The story takes place a little bit before the events of the new Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine; however, we’re not going to give anything away as to no upset the fans. Essentially, there’s a large group of orks on a spaceship and you’re going to kill every single one of them.

The demo presented us with four space-marine classes to choose from: the Techmarine and Sternguard Veteran (ranged combatants) along with the Librarian and Vanguard Veteran (melee fighters). Each class comes with a gear loadout consisting of a main weapon, sidearm and two perk slots for increasing stats that players can customize in between missions. We chose the Librarian because the dude was rocking out with a serrated electro-sword. That shit’s baller, son.

As we said before, the Kill Team is a twin-stick shooter and the gameplay reflects that. You move around with the left thumbstick and aim with the right as endless waves of suicidal orks rush in from all sides. Think Gauntlet Legends with submachine guns and chainsaw blades. The exhibitor we were playing with had us playing with a beefed up class, but he assured us that the actual experience would be very challenging.

Kill Team supports two-player co-op both online and local across a five-hour campaign (give or take an hour or two based upon how good you are). Likewise, for those of you who are planning on buying the new Warhammer 40000: Space Marine game, playing through just one level of Kill Team will unlock the exclusive Power Sword to be used in Space Marine’s multiplayer mode. Only costing ten bucks on PSN (800 MS points on XBLA), Warhammer 40000: Kill Team is a game you can easily download in a pinch and enjoy blasting through with a buddy on a lazy afternoon. Look for it this July.